


Flowers Of The Valley

by TheFoolsYouSee



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Dom/sub, F/F, Love Potion/Spell, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:41:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27071401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFoolsYouSee/pseuds/TheFoolsYouSee
Summary: After defecting from the Horde and leaving Catra behind, Adora has now managed to capture her old friend and current enemy. But it's a long walk back to Bright Moon with a lot of unresolved feelings between the pair, and a certain flower they come across on the way doesn't make things any easier.Then as the years pass and the war goes on, both women must reckon with their experience in the valley and how it's changed their relationship.Rated E for explicit sexual content.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 27
Kudos: 364





	1. Chapter 1

Adora prodded her sword into her prisoner’s back, pushing the feline young woman forward. ‘Keep moving,’ she instructed.

‘What’s the matter, Adora?’ Catra turned her head and smirked as she marched on. ‘You gonna be late for tea with her highness?’

Adora scowled. Her back and forth banter with the catgirl used to be based around a friendly rivalry, but now Catra was treating their fundamental moral divide in the same flippant way. There were only so many times the ex-Horde soldier could try and make her case, and she was tired of it; soon they’d be back in Bright Moon and her captive would see things for herself.

Catra stretched her arms lazily up above her head as she walked on, wrists still locked together in the metal bolt. The pair had been travelling along the narrow valley for almost an hour, and the grey, crumbling rock around them was sprouting more and more greenery the further they got from the Fright Zone. Catra started to slow again.

‘Hey!’ Adora snapped. ‘What did I tell you about-’

But as she jabbed her sword forward again, Catra suddenly jumped and swung her arms down, pulling them under her legs. She whipped her bound wrists up behind her back and to the point of the sword, pressing the bolt’s release button against it. It clicked open, releasing Catra’s hands, and she kicked back at Adora’s chest, knocking her to the ground.

‘Bye, Adora!’ Catra called out playfully as she ran towards the valley wall. ‘See you again soon!’ She leapt up and dug her claws into the rock-

-but immediately slid back down as the soft stone crumbled away beneath her hands.

The catgirl paused for a second, confused, and tried to leap up higher. But the same thing happened again, her claws leaving dark lines behind them in the valley wall. Catra grabbed at plants and patches of grass sticking out next to her but they easily came away in her hands, and she fell back on her rear. The would-be escapee glanced back at her captor, who was leaning casually on her sword.

‘No, take your time,’ the blonde woman smiled. ‘This is fun to watch.’

Catra gave her an embarrassed glare, still squatting on the ground with her hands dug into the tender rock, but remained silent.

‘Now,’ Adora said, swinging the bolt in her other hand. ‘The way I see it, if you still try to run then you’ve only got two directions to choose from, and I’ve got a friend with long, powerful legs who can catch up to you pretty quickly. _Or_ , we could both calmly head towards Bright Moon together, ‘cos I’m guessing you’ll want to wait until we’re out of this crumbly valley before you try to escape again. How’s that sound?’

Catra thought it over. Then she pulled her claws out of the stone, got to her feet, and walked back to her captor.

‘The bolt stays off,’ she declared.

‘You’re my prisoner, that’s not how this works,’ Adora retorted.

‘If you want me to co-operate, then I need something in return.’

‘I could turn into She-Ra and _make_ you put it back on.’

‘And I could keep trying to escape the rest of the way.’

‘You wouldn’t get anywhere.’

‘Maybe not, but it would be really annoying for you.’

Adora furrowed her brow, but eventually nodded. ‘Okay fine, the bolt stays off for now. But when we’re out of here it’s going back on.’

Catra scoffed. ‘We’ll see.’

Adora glared back at the other young woman’s confident smile, sheathed her sword on her back, and the two continued walking.

There was suddenly an awkward tension between them; this was the first time since Adora had left the Horde that they’d been together without being on opposite sides of a fight or caught up in a plot of some kind. At one point Catra glanced furtively at the other young woman, then darted back over to the valley wall and tried to scrabble up it again. But as Adora kept on walking she heard a thud and a winded groan and then the catgirl returned to her side, glowering. Adora smacked her lips a little, trying to find something to fill the silence.

‘More flowers here,’ she stated. ‘Don’t see many of those in the Fright Zone.’ When there was no reply she looked over at her companion, who had a surprised look on her face.

‘Do you not know what these are?’ Catra asked, gesturing to the pink-petalled flora that now littered the valley around them.

‘No,’ Adora said, and frowned when the Horde Force Captain started to smirk again.

‘It’s Couple’s Bloom,’ she grinned. ‘You eat it or breathe in the spores, and it makes you feel… _sensual_.’

‘Oh! Oh God, okay.’ Adora lowered her eyes, embarrassed, and Catra laughed.

‘You were always so innocent, Adora.’

The rebel fighter’s face started to redden and she drew her sword again.

‘Shut up, or I’ll-’

‘Or what? You’ll stab me with your _long, mighty weapon_?’

The human blushed more as Catra cackled louder; she wasn’t even really a prisoner any more, but there was nothing Adora could do about it right now. She swung her sword into the valley wall next to her in frustration, but after pulling it back out of the stone she noticed the patch of pink flowers next to the gash the blade had left.

The flowers been shaken by the vibration, and their stems were starting to convulse.

‘Hey, watch out!’

Catra suddenly shoved Adora forward and they both stumbled ahead. The pair looked back to see the flower tense and then release a small cloud of spores, which drifted safely off back the way they’d come. Catra chuckled awkwardly.

‘That could have made things weird,’ she said.

But Adora just pointed the sword at the other woman’s face. ‘No touching,’ she instructed.

Catra’s smile turned to a scowl. ‘You’re _welcome_ ,’ she huffed, and they walked on towards the next bend in the valley.

There was another minute or so of silence as Adora thoughtfully swayed the sword back and forth.

‘I’m not _that_ innocent,’ she spoke up, furious with herself for still caring about her old friend’s opinion of her.

‘Really?’ Catra raised an eyebrow. ‘Cos we shared barracks for years, if you’d _bunked_ with someone I’m pretty sure I would have noticed.’ The catgirl gestured to her ears, which were twitching pointedly. But then a frown came over her face. ‘Unless one of your new friends…’ Catra suddenly gasped. ‘Was it Glitter Girl or was it Midriff? Please tell me it was Midriff; that would be _hilarious_.’

‘No!’ Adora yelled. ‘I wouldn’t… not with _them_. And anyway, I never noticed you “bunking” with anyone either, so-’

Then they both stopped as they came round the bend in the valley and took in the sight before them; an ocean of Couple’s Bloom was laid out all across the ground and along the walls on either side.

‘Uh-oh,’ Catra breathed.

‘Yep,’ Adora agreed.

‘Oh well, back to the Fright Zone, I guess.’

But as the other woman turned to head back the way they’d come from, Adora lifted the sword again to block her path.

‘Very, _very_ carefully,’ she ordered.

Catra groaned as she turned again, and they both started cautiously picking their feet over each patch of flowers, making sure to not even brush the petals. It was slow going, but they managed to make it halfway across the sea of pink without incident. But then they started to hear a distant hum…

A flying vehicle suddenly zoomed over the valley, too fast for the driver to have seen either of them, and the vibration made the ground and walls around them shake. The two women stood frozen to the spot as the sound of the engine faded away again into the distance.

There was a brief moment of stillness.

And then the flowers surrounding them all released their spores at once with a thick “ _poof_ ” sound into a great cloud.

Adora and Catra both spluttered and coughed until the cloud had sunken down to cover the valley floor in a pink mist. When they had blinked their eyes clear they found themselves facing each other, Adora’s blue eyes staring into Catra’s mismatched ones, the distance between their bodies now tangibly short.

They both yelped in fright and quickly turned around to face opposite walls of the valley.

‘Uh… I’m starting to feel a bit weird,’ Catra admitted after a pause. ‘What about you?’

Adora could feel herself getting steadily warmer, and put her face in her hands. ‘Can we just carry on going and not talk about it, please?’

‘Y-yeah, let’s do that,’ Catra agreed hurriedly.

But neither of them moved.

‘Are we gonna go then?’ Adora prompted.

‘I… don’t want to look at you.’

‘Is that how it works?’

‘I don’t know!’ Catra sounded much less sure of herself than she had a short while ago.

Adora sighed. ‘Look, you go first then,’ she said, and peeked over her shoulder until she saw the catgirl moving ahead before following from behind, trying not to notice how much the heat in her chest was starting to spread. It wouldn’t be long until they reached Bright Moon, she just had to ignore the quivering feeling until then. And anyway, there was only Catra around; they’d grown up together, shared barracks and bathrooms since they were children, so it wasn’t like they were going to suddenly start being attracted to each other _now_.

She noticed the upward flick of a tail ahead of her as her prisoner padded forward on her partially bare feet, a feline sway to her gait.

‘ _Shit_ ,’ Adora muttered under her breath.

* * *

Bow pulled out the next jar from the cupboard and read the label before putting it aside.

‘Sorry, I still can’t find anything,’ he apologised as he turned back to Glimmer, who was sat on a chair clutching a hand to her head. ‘Should I call someone?’

But the Princess shook her head, not looking up. ‘It’ll be there, keep looking,’ she replied, her voice weakened by her migraine. It was the only ailment that she ever seemed to suffer from, the genetics passed down from her immortal mother protecting her from germs and viruses. But whenever the headaches came she would be out of commission, and it had long been Bow’s duty to take care of her during these times. Although, he thought as he turned back to the cupboard, it didn’t help when the castle stores kept getting re-organised. He pulled out another jar, and his eyes widened when he recognised the pink flowers inside it.

‘ _Oh._ ’

‘What?’

‘Nothing, I… think I just found something I shouldn’t have.’ He waved the jar at Glimmer sheepishly as she glanced up, but to his surprise she nodded.

‘Yeah, that’ll be fine,’ she said.

‘Wait, _this?_ ’ Bow looked back at the jar to check he’d identified its contents correctly. ‘But this is… _C-Couple’s Bloom_ , Glimmer!’

The young woman on the chair sighed. ‘That’s just an old myth.’

‘Are you sure?’ But Bow raised his hands in surrender as Glimmer gave him a pained glare. He compliantly opened the jar, put a few of the flowers into the small stone bowl he’d set aside and started grinding them up. When he’d finished, he tipped the remaining powder into a glass of water and stirred the solution together. The Princess took the glass gratefully when he brought it over and she gulped down its contents. Soon the tension in her brow faded and she leant back in her chair.

‘Thanks, Bow,’ she said.

‘No problem,’ the archer replied. ‘But I always thought that flower was a, uh, _marital aid_.’

Glimmer shook her head again. ‘It was one of the things the Apothecarist prescribed to me when I first started getting headaches, and Mom had tests done on everything they gave me. Turns out when it comes to… _enhancing_ things it’s basically a placebo, it doesn’t add anything that’s not already there.’

‘Oh.’ Bow turned the jar over in his hand. ‘They still used a real ornate font on this label, though.’

‘The myth sells, so merchants keep spreading it,’ Glimmer shrugged before draining the last of the solution. ‘But I can safely say that, other than being a painkiller, “Couple’s Bloom” does absolutely nothing to the body whatsoever.’

* * *

Catra could feel the flower’s effects taking a firmer and firmer hold on her. She was grateful to be the one walking in front so as to hide her burning cheeks, and wondered how Adora’s face looked. But the reminder of the other woman walking only a few feet behind her in those _tight pants_ of hers made Catra’s heart start to race, and she quickly pushed the image out of her mind.

She’d be lying if she said she’d never thought about Adora this way before. In fact, that would be quite a _big_ lie, although everything that had happened between them had meant those thoughts hadn’t been returning recently. But the idea that right now her old friend was feeling the same way Catra currently felt made her body heat up further. _Not here_ , she told herself firmly. _Not like this._

‘Stop it,’ Adora’s voice came from behind.

‘Stop what?’ Catra replied.

‘You’re doing a weird sexy walk. It’s not helping.’

Catra squinted. ‘This is my normal walk.’

‘Seriously? You’ve _always_ walked liked that?’

‘Don’t look if you don’t want to.’

‘I’m trying!’

They fell silent again, but now Catra could feel Adora’s eyes on her body. She tried to walk straight, to stop the natural swing of her hips, but knowing that the other woman was watching somehow made that impossible. Heat continued to swirl around inside her, and if Adora really was feeling this way too…

She couldn’t take it anymore; she had to get out of there.

Catra broke out into a sprint and heard Adora’s furious cry fall behind her. She started bounding forward on all fours, trying to get as much distance as she could before-

‘ _For the honor of Grayskull!’_

The words were far off, but soon Catra could feel the vibrations of heavy footsteps racing towards her, and then she was roughly tackled from behind.

The two rolled over, and Catra ended up on her back looking up into the face of She-Ra. Adora’s eyes glared down at her from the giantess’s face, and Catra could feel the mighty strength of the arms pinning her own to the ground.

They lay there for a moment. Enough time passed for them to catch their breath, but they were both still panting heavily and Catra could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears. The expression in She-Ra’s face hadn’t changed much from the angry one it had held at first, but somehow it was now communicating a different kind of tension. Catra opened her legs submissively as the mouth above started to lower towards hers…

Then the huge woman cried out in frustration and rolled off onto the ground. Catra heard a fizzle, and when she looked over Adora was lying next to her, back to her normal size and clothing, her hands covering her face.

‘This is torture,’ she groaned. ‘Why would anyone do this to themselves?’

‘Because by now we’re meant to be-’

‘ _Stop!’_ Adora interrupted quickly. ‘Don’t say it.’

‘Sorry.’ Catra tried to shake the encroaching fuzz from her head. ‘When do you think it’ll wear off?’

‘I don’t know. Maybe we can wait it out.’

‘Yeah, maybe.’

They stayed lying on the ground next to each other. Catra tried to steady the rapid rising and falling of her chest with long, slow breaths. Maybe once her heart rate had slowed, the heat being pumped around her body wouldn’t be so overpowering. But even though she was looking straight up at the streak of sky that was showing between the high, narrow walls of the valley, she could _feel_ the presence of Adora’s body close by, her breaths just as heavy. Catra found her hand reaching over to run a claw over the other woman’s palm, and felt fingers playing back before gripping tightly against her own.

The small pull easily brought Catra rolling over, her hips landing on Adora’s and her back bent down, their faces now inches apart. The catgirl could feel the other body beneath her rising and falling with fast, deep breaths; part of her was pulling back, and she could sense Adora having the same struggle. But then Catra’s gaze moved from Adora’s eyes down to her lips and suddenly she was kissing her.

Adora’s mouth tightened ravenously on her own, and Catra felt a hand reach up to clutch at her brown mane of hair. She sank her body down fully against Adora’s; a leg came up from below to hook over her waist, and a hand slid up her back.

And then Adora pushed her off and sat up.

‘ _Nope_ , _can’t wait it out_ ,’ she said breathlessly.

‘ _Yeah, gotta keep moving_ ,’ Catra agreed urgently.

They scrambled to their feet. Catra looked around, blinking the fog from her head and trying to focus on her surroundings. The valley around them was now smothered in green grass and split into two channels ahead of them.

‘So which way to Bright Moon?’ she asked as casually as she could while still trying to catch her breath.

Adora stepped forward ( _GOD, are those pants tight_ , Catra thought) and looked between the two paths. ‘So if we came _that_ way,’ she said under her breath, apparently trying to slow the heavy contractions of her own chest, ‘but then the valley turned, and…’

She suddenly cried out and stabbed her sword into the ground.

‘I can’t _FOCUS!_ ’ she yelled.

Adora leant forward on the sword for a moment, her head lowered. Then she took another deep breath and stood up straight without looking round.

‘Okay, look…’ she said. They were the two most loaded words Catra had ever heard.

After a pause, the blonde woman finally turned around; the way she glanced at various parts of Catra’s body and quickly looked away before her eyes were pulled back again made the catgirl’s heart race once more.

‘We can’t go on like this,’ Adora continued, ‘and… this might just be because I obviously really want to right now, but… maybe for it to wear off, we need to…’

She paused, apparently needing to push the words over some internal barrier.

‘…give the flower what it wants.’

Thoughts raced through Catra’s brain. She wanted Adora too, had done even before today, and here she was, ready and willing. But like this? Would it be taking advantage? Or would they be taking advantage of each other just as much right now? They’d had plenty of physical battles lately where they’d managed to hurt each other, but somehow it felt like there was a different set of rules here. Catra tried to imagine what she would do if she wasn’t under the influence of the flower, but couldn’t even remember what that felt like. Right now an escape from this tension seemed just as appealing as the means of releasing it.

Adora stepped closer, her hand absent-mindedly lifting to sweep a tuft of hair behind Catra’s long ear. The catgirl melted at her touch, starting to purr.

‘It might be our only way out of here,’ the human whispered, her hand continuing to unconsciously stroke the voluminous mane of brown hair. Catra could feel hot breaths against her cheeks and tension in the fingers running through her hair. Their chins were both dipping and rising slightly around each other’s, anticipating the second kiss they both so desperately wanted. But Adora seemed to be holding herself back, waiting for a response. Catra frantically grasped at the last escaping pieces of sanity in her head; this was not how she’d ever pictured this happening, and there was no guarantee it was going to work.

‘Yeah, it might work,’ Catra said, and brought her mouth to Adora’s.

Their tongues found one another and intertwined, the delicious taste of the other woman’s mouth making Catra shiver. She put her hands on the shoulders in front of her and hoisted herself up, wrapping her legs around Adora’s waist.

Adora let out a muffled squeak of surprise at the catgirl’s urgency and stumbled back a step. But then she steadied herself and pulled Catra’s thighs up above her hips, before moving her hands along to eagerly squeeze at her rear.

‘I want you, Catra,’ Adora breathed between kisses. ‘I want you so bad.’

Catra’s heart leapt at the words, and she chewed hungrily at Adora’s bottom lip with her fangs, feeling the receptive moan vibrate in both their mouths. The human’s hands slipped under Catra’s top, who reached down and pulled each layer covering her torso up and over her head. She leant her head back as she felt Adora kiss desperately at her neck before lowering her mouth down her chest over her naked breasts. The feel of the other woman’s tongue on her erect nipples made Catra feel like she was about to explode, and she pulled Adora’s chin back up to kiss her again furiously.

She dropped her feet to the floor as Adora started to take her jacket off, and helped her remove her undershirt too. Catra spend a few seconds taking in the sight of the rebel gazing amorously back at her, savouring the feeling it sparked in her. Then she lowered her eyes down to the flushed pink skin of Adora’s bare chest. She grazed her claws gently over the soft flesh of the breasts before her, and the human let out an involuntary moan when the sharp sensation reached her nipple. The noise made Catra’s heart somersault again, and she pulled off her torn leggings and underwear, barely managing to step out of them before practically tackling Adora to the floor.

They continued kissing deeply, and Catra felt Adora’s hands run down the curve of her back, over the base of her tail, and grope again at her now-bare rear. The human kicked her boots off and Catra brought her fingers to the belt clasp which was digging into her bare skin. She unbuckled it and moved her body down Adora’s as she peeled those _oh-so tight_ pants fully off. Catra grinned her bared fangs up at the excited face looking down at her, and tickled her fingers over the last remaining bit of clothing covering the other woman’s crotch.

Adora tensed, wrapped her legs around Catra and suddenly flipped her over so that they’d switched positions.

‘Don’t tease me,’ Adora whispered to the surprised catgirl. She then plucked the headpiece from Catra’s head and tossed it aside before lowering her mouth to her captive’s neck.

Catra gasped for breath at the sensation of Adora taking greedy mouthfuls of her skin, and slid her hands down the other woman’s body. When she reached Adora’s underwear again she pulled it down, and the human lifted up her rear to allow the garment to be pulled down her legs and off over her feet. The two women grinded their now-entirely naked bodies against each other, Catra’s hands pushing Adora’s hips down against her as she thrust her own upwards. Impatient for the taste of the other woman’s mouth again, she grabbed the sides of Adora’s head and pulled it up from her neck, bringing their tongues together once more. Catra felt for the tie holding Adora’s ponytail up and unfastened it, before parsing her sharp fingers through the now-loose dirty-blonde hair, her claws grazing against the scalp beneath.

‘Oh _fuck,_ Catra, _yes_ ,’ Adora gasped in approval. Taking the feedback to heart, Catra continued gently running her claws over Adora’s skin, drawing patterns over her back before tracing them down further and grabbing onto her hips again.

Then the catgirl retracted the claws on one hand and brought it between their overheating bodies, sliding it down Adora’s stomach and between her legs.

She felt the muscles pressed against hers tighten and release in time with the pumping of her fingers. Adora started to moan and reached down to take hold of Catra’s hand, moving it faster. When they had hit the desired tempo, Adora rested both her hands on the ground either side of Catra’s head. The human woman’s back arched as she let out another high moan, her breasts shaking with the pulsations of her body. Catra could see the tension that had been building between them all day coming to a head in Adora’s clenched face and sped up the movements of her hand further.

‘Catra…!’ Adora cried in a high gasp, before gasping again wordlessly, and then once more. And then Catra felt Adora’s thighs tighten around her hand and a hot, wet burst stream through her already soaking fingers.

Adora’s body clenched briefly a couple more times before she lowered her head limply, hair hanging loosely down around it. A sudden shot of fear went across Catra – did it work for her? Would they have to stop now? But after the brief pause Adora was leaning down and kissing her again and fear was replaced with relief, then with anticipation as the other woman’s mouth started travelling down her body.

The catgirl opened her legs and let out a quivering moan as she felt the human’s tongue explore the space between them before slipping inside her. Catra slowly grinded against Adora’s face, trying to draw her further inside. Her hands grabbed at her own breasts, squeezing them as new tension began to build inside her. The idea that the thing she’d wanted for so long was finally happening made her muscles begin to tighten, and-

_Oh no._

Catra could feel it growing in her throat, rising up in waves the closer Adora was bringing her to climax, getting higher and higher as it fought to escape from her mouth.

‘Adora, stop!’ Catra gasped just in time. She sat up as the blonde woman pulled her head back. Catra blinked away the spots in front of her eyes and panted until her sight refocused. When it did, she saw Adora’s face intoxicatingly close to hers.

‘Are you alright?’ she asked.

Catra nodded. ‘It’s just… a lot.’

‘Sure, okay.’

The two nude women sat on the grass catching their breath. Catra lifted a hand and ran it through her own hair, her heart still feeling too high in her chest. Adora put her hand on Catra’s shoulder and her fingers went down her arm, the affection behind the touch making it somehow the most intimate part of what they’d been doing.

‘I don’t want you to have to feel this way without release all the way back,’ Adora said. Catra looked into her beautiful Adora’s beautiful blue eyes, which were full of concern. _It’s not that I don’t want it_ , she thought. _I’ve never wanted anything more._ Catra exhaled decisively; she was just going to have to control it.

‘Fine,’ she grinned. ‘I’ll do you the favour of letting you finish up.’

Adora’s mouth also broke into a smile and they kissed again. Catra fell back onto the grass and watched Adora plant more kisses down her stomach. She lay her head back and blew nervously through her mouth as she felt the human’s tongue play around the lips between her legs before hungrily penetrating them again.

_She was absolutely NOT going to be able to control it._

Catra tried in vain to keep her mouth shut as the movement of Adora’s head sped up and the contractions built throughout her body once more. But as the final, overwhelming pulse rocked her, her lips parted and the long yowl she’d been holding in echoed out across the valley.

Blood pumped waves of white heat all throughout her, and Catra’s head felt clogged by the all-encompassing rush. By the time she had returned to reality, Adora was lying on her side next to her. The human flicked a finger across Catra’s nose.

‘Now that,’ Adora said, ‘was _very_ cute.’

Catra covered her face with her hands and let out an embarrassed groan. In all her fantasies about this moment, she’d _never_ thought she’d have a reaction like that. She felt her hands be peeled off her face and Adora pull her chin to the side. Those blue eyes were still besotted, and they started kissing again. Their naked bodies entwined, holding each other close in the afterglow.

* * *

Adora was sat up cross-legged on the grass. The extremes of the heat running through her body had subsided, but the overhead sun was warming the valley enough that she hadn’t reached for any of her clothes. She was silent, still trying to process the brand new experience she’d just had.

‘How do you feel now?’ Catra asked.

Adora looked over at the other naked woman lying back in the grass, one knee raised up and arms stretched up behind her head. Adora grimly noted how her heart still spiked at the sight of her enemy’s curves.

‘Still quite…’ she trailed off.

‘Quite what?’

Adora threw up her hands in exasperation. ‘ _Horny_ , Catra. I still feel horny.’

She brought her knees up and rested her arms on them with a sigh that was almost a huff. The journey back was only going to be worse now that they had each other’s tastes in their mouths.

‘We could try again,’ Catra shrugged, an inviting look in her mismatched eyes. ‘Just in case.’

‘I think we know that won’t work,’ Adora replied.

‘I guess not. But… I really, _really_ want to.’

Despite her casual posture, a little tension had crept back into the catgirl’s limbs. Adora thought ahead to when they’d have to leave the valley; they’d be back on different sides, and who knew what might happen then. This might be the final time they would ever be together.

She rolled over on top of Catra and started kissing her again, surrendering to the flower’s influence.

* * *

Bow felt part of himself loosen with relief as he saw Adora walking up the castle corridor, and jogged towards her.

‘Nice to have you back!’ he said. ‘How’d the mission go?’

‘Well…’ Adora avoided his eyes, and then Bow saw a couple of guards march Catra round a corner.

‘Oh,’ he said in realisation, and waved awkwardly when the prisoner looked over at them. ‘Heyyy, Catra.’

Bow had expected a scowl of some kind, but for some reason Catra gave him an equally awkward nod back as she was led away. Bow looked back to Adora’s inscrutable face.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘This must be pretty weird for you, I know you two were close.’

‘No! I mean, _yes,_ obviously, but…’ Adora stopped her spluttering and gave a heavy sigh. ‘I need some water.’

They went to Glimmer’s room, who gladly filled a glass from the jug of water she kept on a side table, letting Adora quench her thirst before she filled them in on her infiltration of the Fright Zone and escape with her captive.

‘Sounds like it got close,’ Glimmer said guiltily. ‘I’m really sorry I couldn’t go with you.’

‘No, I’m glad you’re feeling better now!’ Adora replied quickly. ‘It must be tough getting migraines randomly like that.’

The purple-haired young woman nodded. ‘It’s not too bad once I get some medicine. Bow was great with that.’

‘Yeah, I got an apothecary lesson!’ the dark-skinned young man smiled proudly. ‘I don’t know if you ever heard of it with the Horde, but there’s this flower called “Couple’s Bloom”?’

‘Yeah, I’ve heard of it,’ Adora said, keeping an extremely straight face.

‘Well, turns out it’s just a painkiller, that’s all it does. People just spread the ‘love spores’ myth as a marketing thing so they can sell OH MY GOD ADORA YOUR HAND!’

Adora lowered her widened eyes down to the glass that she had just crushed into shards, which were now lacerating her palm.

‘Oh,’ she said distractedly.

Glimmer quickly teleported away to fetch some bandages, and when she was back they set about removing the shards of glass and wrapping up the bloody hand.

‘Guess I’m still a bit tense after the mission,’ Adora said sheepishly, keeping her eyes down.

‘I’m not surprised after having to walk Catra back all the way,’ Glimmer said as she continued her bandaging. ‘What did you two even talk about?’

‘We, uh… we didn’t talk.’

‘Really?’ Bow asked with a frown. ‘Miles and miles, after all your years of friendship, now on different sides of a battle between good and evil and you didn’t say _anything_ to each other?’

‘No!’ Adora suddenly snapped. ‘We didn’t say anything, we didn’t do anything, it was a long, boring, totally uneventful walk back!’ She leant back in the chair with a huff, keeping her injured hand held up.

But Glimmer had stopped bandaging it. The Princess was looking down at the floor, and even without seeing her face Adora could tell that she was making a connection in her head.

‘Adora,’ Glimmer asked shortly, ‘what’s that on your boot?’

Adora slowly, reluctantly bent forward to peer down at her foot.

A flattened but intact pink flower was poking out from under it, stuck to the sole.

‘Did you take the North Valley?’ Glimmer asked, giving her patient a severe look.

‘Y-Yes,’ Adora responded timidly.

‘And when you got to the meadow, did you get caught in a bloom cloud?’

‘Yes,’ Adora croaked.

‘And did you both think-’

Adora could only nod.

‘And then did you-’

Another nod.

Glimmer let out a long, tired sigh and ran her hand over her face. ‘You pair of _absolute idiots.’_

Bow gave a loud gasp as he caught up with their implications. ‘Wait, so if the flower didn’t do anything, then you both already _wanted_ to…’

‘Apparently, yeah,’ Adora confirmed with a weak shrug, still a little shell-shocked.

Bow let out a longer, higher gasp. Glimmer finished fastening the bandage, a little tighter than she really had to.

‘Guess that’s something ELSE we’ve gotta deal with,’ the Princess said exasperatedly, before turning and stalking out of the bedroom shaking her head. ‘ _Idiots_ …’ she muttered as she left.

Adora winced a little as she flexed her hand, and lifted her head to see Bow’s face far too close to hers, making her flinch back in the chair.

‘Are you gonna talk to her?’ he asked eagerly.

‘I don’t know,’ Adora sighed.

‘But she’s _here_! You’ve _got to_ talk to her!’

‘Catra’s still part of the Horde, Bow! We’re on opposite sides, that’s what you said!’

‘I know, I know. It’s just… I’m so excited for you!’ Bow beamed helplessly.

Adora sunk down the chair and onto the floor with a groan. He was right; Catra _was_ here in the castle, and apparently had these same feelings. Adora wondered if they were just as unconscious as they’d been for her. Maybe they weren’t.

* * *

Catra paced in the small circumference of the circular force-field. This place was too _nice_ to be a proper prison cell; it was clearly a bedroom of some kind that had been repurposed, although the Force Captain couldn’t see how anyone could manage to sleep with an indoor waterfall in the room. The rest of the furniture had been removed and the lights dimmed, but Catra could make out enough pastels in the remaining décor that the attempt at a threatening aura was broken.

‘I need a few minutes with her,’ a familiar voice came from the other side of the door, and it started to open. _Guards don’t even question the ex-Horde soldier wanting to be alone with the prisoner,_ Catra thought angrily. _How far has she wormed her way into this place?_ She continued to circle the inside of her flickering cage as Adora stepped in, the door closing behind her.

‘You not gonna say it?’ the blonde woman asked after a few seconds had passed.

Catra sighed. ‘”Hey, Adora,”’ she recited irritably and glowered at the other woman; the sight of her blue eyes and pink lips brought back echoes of the flame that had coursed through both of them earlier that day, but Catra pushed the feeling firmly aside.

Adora glanced around the ‘cell’. ‘You finally got your own room. I mean, I’m guessing Force Captains still have to sleep in the barracks.’

‘The barracks weren’t a prison,’ the feline woman retorted.

‘Yeah, they _were_ , Catra,’ Adora said with an infuriatingly patronising sigh. ‘After you’ve been here a while, I hope you’ll start to see that.’

Catra scoffed. ‘Don’t waste your time. I won’t be here long enough for your Princess brainwashing to work. Either I’ll escape, or the Horde will come for me.’

There was a pause. Catra stopped her pacing, keeping her back turned as she waited for Adora’s response. It didn’t come for almost a full minute.

‘…I think we have to talk about what happened.’

Catra tensed. ‘I don’t.’

‘Why not?’

The prisoner turned and fixed her captor with a glare. ‘Because it doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t change that you left me, and that now every time we meet we have to fight each other.’ _And now there’s another part of you that I once had that I’ll never get back,_ she added furiously in her head, burning with the pain she thought she’d left behind.

‘Catra, I really think-’

‘No, you want to talk about something?’ Catra cut her off and gestured to the force-field around her. ‘Let’s talk about _this_! Let’s talk about how even before we fucked, we were almost back to the way we were, but then when we got out of the valley I was your prisoner again.’

‘I wanted to bring you here so that we could be together!’

Catra didn’t break her glare even as the pained look in Adora’s eyes pierced through her. When she had proved she could withstand it, she turned again and squatted down on the floor, hugging her knees.

‘It’s time we both accepted that we’ll never be on the same side again,’ Catra said, trying to hide the break in her voice. ‘No stupid flower can change that.’

Silence fell between them again for a long moment.

‘Yeah,’ Adora eventually said, her voice sounding so small. ‘Just a stupid flower.’

Catra heard the other woman’s footsteps leave the room, and wiped the tears from her eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Adora felt the vibration of the ship’s engines through the metal deck below her feet. Things had been so hectic that she’d barely stood still in the last few days, but now she was hesitating, trying to bring herself to raise her hand and knock on the door in front of her. She grimaced to herself – how many armies and monsters had she faced and defeated, and yet _this_ was making her feel more nervous than anything.

She took a quick breath and knocked firmly. There was a sullen grunt of acknowledgement from the other side of the door, and Adora walked into Catra’s room.

The now short-haired young woman was lying on the bed in the centre of her room once again, staring up at the ceiling. Adora felt the same anxiety that had been there the last few times she’d come to check on Catra, but having her chip removed had seemed to lift a weight from the catgirl. Now when she glanced up, her mismatched eyes looked actually pleased to see her.

‘Hey Ad-’

Catra paused, and they both laughed at the accidental reprise of her normally goading greeting. Adora felt herself relax and went over to sit on the end of the bed.

‘How do you feel?’

‘Fine,’ Catra replied as she sat up. ‘It’s nice not having Prime wired into my brain anymore. What’s it like having She-Ra back?’

Adora found herself grinning. ‘It’s good. It’s really good.’

They shared a smile, and for the first time since Adora had originally left the Horde, there was a moment of real peace between them.

Catra tugged at the short vest she was still wearing. ‘Maybe now I’m not your patient anymore I can find some actual clothes on this ship.’

She pulled the hem of the garment, trying to stretch it out, and Adora balked as she saw a glimpse of a nipple.

‘Whoa!’ she cried, turning her head and lifting a hand to block the view.

‘Oh relax,’ Catra huffed. ‘It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.’ Adora heard a ping as the elastic of the vest snapped back against the other woman's skin, and a stifled gasp of annoyance at the sting.

 _Oh yeah,_ Adora thought to herself. _That._

It had been a couple of years now since the intimate time they'd shared when passing through the North Valley together. Realising that there was an attraction that accompanied their old bond of friendship had made Adora rethink a lot of things. But then Catra had been broken out of Bright Moon. The castle guards stationed by her makeshift cell had been found unconscious, their staffs cut in half by what looked like giant pincers – Adora suddenly made a connection in her head that seemed obvious in retrospect.

Before escaping, Catra had made it clear that whatever physical or emotional feelings lingered between them, Adora’s betrayal had been a line in the sand. Every subsequent encounter they’d had split them further and further apart, and the catgirl had begun to spiral, lost in a twisted vortex in her own mind that broke her down and pushed her to almost destroy the world. After such a long time of feeling responsible for her old friend’s behaviour, Adora had finally let go, knowing there was nothing she could do to help Catra if she kept making the same destructive choices.

But now she was here. They were together again, on the same side. The boiling anger behind those blue and yellow eyes had gone, and even the mischief that usually played at the edge of her expressions was absent at the moment. For now, Catra actually seemed content. Would this be the new normal? Or was it a convenient combination of a full belly and being too worn out to try and start an argument? Adora decided to take advantage of the amiable moment; there was one detail that had been on her mind for a long time that Catra had a right to know.

‘That day, walking you back to Bright Moon,’ she began. ‘That was… that was quite a day, wasn’t it?’

‘Yeah, it’s funny what magic flowers can make you do.’ Catra lay back on the bed and put her hands behind her head, raising one knee up. Adora remembered looking down at her in the exact same relaxed pose in the valley. Except that time, the other woman hadn’t even been wearing these skimpy pyjamas.

‘About that…’ Adora braced herself. ‘It’s funny, really, but later I found out that Couple’s Bloom… well, it doesn’t really do anything.’

‘Uh, yeah it does Adora,’ Catra said with a condescending look. ‘We were both there, remember?’

‘Yeah, but… the royal apothercarists at Bright Moon did loads of tests on the flower and its spores and it turns out… it doesn’t.’

‘Oh.’ Catra frowned. ‘So what happened, then?’

‘Nothing happened.’

‘But there must have been a spell or something, cos I remember feeling _really_ horny. And I remember _you_ feeling really horny.’

Adora shrugged. ‘I think we were just horny.’

Catra sat bolt upright. ‘No, wait, but… hang on… we were walking together, and then we got caught in the bloom cloud, and THEN we both started feeling it!’

‘I guess we just started feeling what we thought we were meant to feel. Apparently that’s why it works for other people, it just acts as a gazebo.’

‘But that doesn’t mean two people just-’ Catra suddenly blinked in surprise. ‘Wait, what did you call it?’

‘It’s a gazebo, it’s not real, it only works because you think it’s gonna work.’

A grin spread over Catra’s face. ‘Is that what it’s called?’

‘...Yeah?’ Adora started to feel belittled for some reason.

Catra giggled. ‘Say it again.’

Adora folded her arms with a resistant frown. ‘No.’

‘It’s _placebo,_ you dummy!’

Adora felt herself blush with embarrassment as Catra cackled. She huffed, but a smile still spread over her face. It felt nice to be back to their light-hearted teasing of each other.

‘So hang on,’ Catra said. ‘I know a thing or two about mind control now, but you’re saying we just started wanting to fuck each other out of nowhere?’

‘Well,’ Adora said slowly. ‘Maybe… it _wasn’t_ out of nowhere.’

There was a pause as the ramifications openly settled over the two women. Catra looked down and started picking fluff off the mattress with her claws.

‘That’s… something,’ she said eventually.

‘Yeah,’ Adora chuckled. ‘Makes things a bit complicated.’

‘And things were already pretty complicated,’ Entrapta added.

Adora and Catra both yelped in surprise at the sound of the nasal voice that had come from the upper corner of the room – Entrapta was sitting in the mouth of a vent with her engineer mask over her face, one leg dangling down as she tinkered with some wiring in the vent’s inner wall.

‘ _Entrapta!_ ’ Catra squeaked. ‘We’re talking about something VERY private!’

‘Are you?’ Entrapta pulled her mask up off her face and gave them a confused look. ‘Bow and Glimmer have been taking about it since we rescued you.’

Catra’s head whipped round to Adora, who gave her a sheepish smile. The catgirl let out an infuriated groan

‘Great,’ she scoffed. ‘So the whole ship knows we fucked.’

‘Well, I don’t think Wrong Hordak knows,’ Entrapta said. ‘But if you give me a second I can go find him and-’

‘If you do I will come in there after you and _strangle you with your own hair_!’ Catra snarled, leaping up to swipe her claws at Entrapta’s dangling leg. The pink-haired engineer yanked it back and scuttled away back down the vent.

Adora couldn’t help but laugh as Catra vainly tried to pull herself up to the vent for a few seconds.

‘Do you think she’d have to explain to him what sex _is_?’ Adora giggled.

Catra turned back to her, eyes a little wide with surprise, but then she chuckled too.

‘Okay,’ she admitted. ‘Maybe I wouldn’t mind overhearing _that_ conversation.’

Their laughter faded, and there was an awkward moment of silence.

‘Look, I know things are different now,’ Adora said. ‘And you’ve probably got a lot going on already. I just thought that now we can talk again, you should know what really happened.’

Catra nodded. ‘Thanks.’

The silence returned, and the two women avoided each other’s eyes, both fidgeting slightly. The awkwardness was getting too much for Adora to bear.

‘Well, goodnight!’ she said definitively.

‘Yeah, sleep well,’ Catra smiled as Adora turned and walked out of the bedroom.

* * *

The space-mattresses on this ship were almost as firm as the ones in the Horde Barracks back on Etheria. After weeks sleeping on the weird, shifting material of her bed on Horde Prime’s station, it was good to feel something familiar again. But even after the emotional exhaustion of the day, Catra still couldn’t fall asleep.

Her feelings for Adora had seemed to change so many times in the last couple of years – from heartbreak at her leaving, to envy of her easy rise to the top ranks of her rebellion, to playful glee at being able to rile her up in battle, to the white-hot, all-consuming rage she'd felt after her childhood friend had once again stolen Shadow Weaver’s favour even after turning traitor. But whatever form they took, the intensity of those feelings was always the same. Horde Prime had seen that even before he had permeated her mind with his own – ‘Adora means something to you,’ he had said, and ‘something’ felt exactly right.

And then Catra had helped Glimmer escape, to save Adora. And Adora had come to save Catra in turn. And now here they were.

Catra sat up. Their earlier conversation had fizzled out and Adora was probably asleep by now, but she couldn’t lie here with thoughts of the other woman buzzing through her head when she was such a short distance away. Catra left her bedroom and padded down the corridor, lightly sniffing the air to find the room where Adora was. When she found it, she only paused for a second before lightly rapping a claw against the metal.

There was a surprised squeak from inside. ‘H-Hold on!’

After a longer moment than Catra had expected, Adora opened the door. She was still dressed, but her belt was hanging clumsily around her waist as if it had been hastily re-attached. Catra noticed a hot, sticky scent hovering in the air, as well as Adora’s flushed cheeks and the damp glisten on her fingers.

Catra felt her heartbeat quicken as she realised she hadn’t come here to talk, and pulled Adora into a kiss.

After a few seconds of surprise, the other woman’s arms lifted up and her wrists rested on Catra’s shoulders. Catra stepped forward and Adora stepped back with her, the door closing behind them.

Catra knew Adora’s scent well from all the years they’d spent sharing barracks, but the specific sensation of that taste on her lips brought her straight back to the valley, that place where they’d allowed their feelings of pure lust, wherever they had come from, to take control. Back then the idea that there was some outside force putting them in this position had felt freeing for Catra, giving her permission to let out something primal without having to work it through the maze in her head. But now it was even more exciting to know that it was _Adora_ choosing to pull Catra’s vest off over her head, _Adora_ grabbing the now-exposed breasts and covering them in kisses, _Adora_ excitedly stripping off her own clothes.

Once they were both fully naked, both women clambered onto the bed. Catra lowered her head down to kiss and lick the hot skin of Adora’s neck, savouring the taste that had used to return to her in dreams. She felt the other woman slip a hand down her stomach and between her legs.

Catra didn’t hold back her grateful moan. She lifted her body up, allowing Adora’s arm the space it needed to start pumping. She opened her eyes and looked down at the face below hers, at the cheeks pink with heat, at the eyes gazing so softly, at the mouth twitching into a smile at every gratified noise Catra made.

_I love you._

The words rocketed to the front of Catra’s mind, branding themselves over everything else. Each desire and frustration she’d ever directed at the other woman suddenly aligned themselves around the words, and she bit her lip to try and stop them from escaping her lips. But the infuriating tangle that had been inside her for so long was frantically trying to break out of her now that it had found a form it could be expressed in. Catra desperately tried to find other words to shape the rising exhalation around, anything other than _I love you, I love you, I love you…_

‘…Fuck you.’

‘What?’

‘U-Um…’ Catra’s eyes widened in panic. She’d tried to give her mouth a word it could spit out cathartically, but some of _the_ _other thing_ had come out with it. It might have actually been less disastrous to have gone with that instead.

But then she saw Adora’s expression.

‘Say it again,’ the blonde woman begged.

Catra felt her panic turn to excitement as she realised how much she’d managed to ramp up the tension between them, and how it had made Adora feel.

‘Fuck you,’ she repeated.

Adora shivered and the movements of her hand sped up. Catra felt her body spasm in response to the reward, and she lowered her head to bring her mouth to Adora’s ear.

‘Fuck you Adora, you stupid _Princess_.’

Catra felt a hand spring to the back of her head and pull it down into a deep kiss, Adora’s tongue wrestling against her own. The other woman’s hand was keeping Catra’s head in place, but she knew how to break Adora’s onslaught. She reached down, making sure to retract her claws, and began rubbing her fingertips against the fleshy ridges between Adora’s thighs.

Adora unclamped her mouth from Catra’s to gasp for breath, and momentarily loosened her grip on the catgirl’s head. But then she grabbed Catra’s shoulder and pushed her over, still keeping one hand hooked into the other woman’s crotch, rolling over the bed with her so that she was now on top. Catra responded by sliding two fingers between the wet folds they’d been massaging, and a shuddering gasp made Adora stop as she was lowering her mouth to Catra’s again. She lifted her other hand up as Catra lifted her own free one to catch it, their fingers interlocking but the hands pushing against each other. The friction that had been a given between them until very recently had returned, but now the pair were wielding it like a tool. Adora kissed Catra again as they both furiously pumped their fingers deeper into each other. Catra knew it was a fight now, both to dominate and to bring the other woman to climax first, and it felt AMAZING.

Adora lifted her mouth off Catra’s as she started to pant, and Catra brought her own mouth to Adora’s shoulder. She placed her fangs against the skin and, as gently as she could bring herself to, she bit down.

Adora let out a low, protracted cry of ecstasy, which in turn made Catra give out an elongated moan that ended in a growl. Their bodies both spasmed in contrasting rhythms until both women were spent, and Adora lowered her forehead to rest against Catra’s. Their hot gasps of breath on each other’s faces were making them overheat even more, but neither of them loosened the fingers entwined in the other’s hair.

They both started to giggle again, the rush of excitement and intimacy flooding them with a happiness that was bursting out. Adora slumped her body down onto Catra’s, putting her head on the catgirl’s shoulder.

‘That… was… incredible,’ she panted.

‘Yeah, it was,’ Catra agreed. _I love you._ ‘Guess all that time fighting was good for something.’ _I love you_.

Adora let out another exhausted laugh into Catra’s shoulder, then lifted her head to kiss the other woman again. This time their tongues caressed each other instead of battling for dominance, and Catra could feel herself melting from the gentle affection. They clutched each other as their bodies came down from the peak of the rush to a trough of vulnerability. Catra inhaled Adora’s scent, letting her newly defined feelings for the other woman warm her now that she could grasp them, even as she refused to let them be spoken out loud. She’d only just reclaimed her mind for herself again, and right now the idea of revealing something so intimate felt like it would be more exposing than her physical nakedness.

They gently kissed and caressed each other, sharing comfort through the slump in their emotional energy, and after a few minutes Catra felt herself returning to normal. Now she understood why she had thought this feeling had been an intoxication of some kind.

Adora rolled off onto the mattress letting out a heavy, satisfied sigh, and glanced over at the bite mark on her shoulder.

‘Even now, you’re still giving me bruises,’ she scolded.

Catra chuckled and leant over to kiss the patch of skin apologetically. ‘Sorry. Maybe we can make a rule about it.’

She felt Adora suddenly stiffen, and the other woman pulled away, sitting up on the edge of the mattress with her back turned.

‘What is it?’ Catra asked, her heart sinking as she predicted the answer that would come. She felt very glad she’d managed to keep a lid on her feelings earlier.

Adora sighed again, less positively this time. ‘It’s just… you and me, we’ve been through a lot. I’m so glad to finally have you back, and I don’t… I don’t want anything to get in the way of us fixing things.’

Catra slowly crawled forward to sit next to Adora. ‘Do you think it would get in the way?’

Adora was silent, keeping her eyes down and swinging her feet a little. _Had it happened again?_ Catra thought. Had she caught Adora in a receptive moment, the high of their reunion and their historic tension doing more heavy lifting than she’d realised?

‘If we didn’t have things to fix,’ Catra asked, ‘is it… something you would want?’

‘I-’ Adora was looking at her again, her eyes a little nervous. She now seemed to be thinking over her words after stopping herself from blurting out something accommodating. ‘Honestly?’ she eventually said. ‘I don’t know. That’s not a “no”, but it’s…’ Adora put her face in her hands. ‘There’s so much going on.’

Catra nodded, and pushed down the spike of emotion that was trying to force itself out in a sharp retort. She now knew what it was like to have to untangle feelings before knowing what they were.

Adora lowered her hands and took a deep breath. ‘I think for now, we should focus on getting home,' she said, 'and what to do when we get there. And then maybe after that…’ Adora trailed off, any further words apparently too definitive for her.

‘Okay, fine.’ Catra stood and went to pick up her vest and shorts from the floor, pulling them back on.

‘I’m sorry, Catra,’ Adora said, her tone starting to rise a little.

‘No, it’s okay.’ Catra took a breath and forced a smile before turning back to Adora, going back over to put a hand on her face. ‘I want you to know what you want. I’ll wait.’

Adora’s eyes filled with relief, and she smiled back. The sight made Catra’s heart swell with warmth, and she couldn’t resist leaning her head forward one last time. They kissed through a swirl of conflicting, bittersweet emotions before Catra pulled away again.

‘I’m really glad to have you back too,’ she said. Then she turned and left Adora’s room.

* * *

Catra pulled on the last bit of the outfit she’d found at the foot of her bed after waking up. Such intrusiveness could only mean it had been Entrapta who’d left it there, but after the first bout of annoyance, Catra had seen how much the clothes were in her style and realised what a sweet gesture it was. Whether the manic girl had found some machine on this spacecraft that could produce clothes or made one herself, she’d obviously made an effort to try to give Catra something familiar to hold onto after such an identity-shaking experience. She ran her hands over the material, and instinctively went to sweep her hair back. Her hands paused as they felt the short strands that were now all that was left of her long brown mane. Her fingers clenched into the hair and she remembered Adora’s fingers doing the same thing the previous night.

She loved Adora. It made sense of so much, and yet somehow still changed everything. That twisting, aching feeling she associated with her childhood friend finally had a name, and now that she knew what it was, she could direct it where it could help rebuild their friendship instead of damaging it. And after that…

Catra huffed to herself, and walked out of her room and down the corridor of the ship. As much as she hated the idea, she’d have to be patient. Adora needed time to work out what she wanted, and Catra would give her that time. She’d just have to work on controlling her frustration.

An angry cry came from the bridge, and as she approached the entrance she saw Bow and Glimmer bent over the sides of the central chair.

‘Come on Adora!’ Glimmer was yelling encouragingly. ‘You can’t let distractions keep you from transforming!’

‘What’s going on?’ Catra asked, and noted the irritated frown of the blonde woman in the seat as she turned. ‘Ooh, are we messing with Adora?’ She hurried forward and swung herself around the chair, landing to sit in Adora’s lap.

‘Catra, do you have to sit _right_ _there_?’ Adora asked pointedly, the hint of a blush creeping into her cheeks.

‘What?’ Catra asked innocently. ‘I’m not doing anything.’ She’d promised Adora she would wait. She never said she’d make it easy for her.

As they shouted encouragement, Catra playfully batted her tail against the face that was screwing up in frustrations of all kinds. But she was pleased to note the feeling of Adora’s hand unconsciously cupping the underside of her leg.


	3. Chapter 3

Adora was fading away in her arms.

Catra helplessly watched the angular, green veins spread further over the pale skin of the woman she was holding. Prime’s virus was making Adora’s eyes less and less focused, and terror filled Catra’s heart as she felt her slipping away.

‘Adora, please, you have to wake up!’ she begged, her voice almost a croak. ‘You can’t give up! You’ve never given up on anything in your life! Not even on me...’ She hugged the other woman close, trying to physically hold onto the light that was dimming from her eyes. ‘So don’t you _dare_ start now!’

‘It’s too late…’ a whisper came against her ear. ‘I’ve failed…’

‘No!’ The tone of defeat in Adora’s voice made Catra clenched her fingers into the other woman’s clothes, into her hair. ‘No, I’ve got you! I’m not letting go!’

But the body in her arms was getting more and more limp. Tears stung Catra’s eyes and she lowered her hand from under Adora’s head down to her back, clutching her as close as she could.

‘ _Don’t you get it?_ ’ she cried. ‘ _I love you! I always have!’_ Catra called out the words like they should change everything, like the universe should stop and listen and bend around them. ‘So please, just this once, _stay!’_

But there was no response. No sound, no movement, only the stillness of the other body in her arms.

‘ _Stay_ …’ Catra whispered in a pleading breath, her heart breaking. She could hear a great crackle of lightning above them from the Heart and she lifted herself over Adora, protecting her until the end.

And then a shining, whistling sound cut across the cacophony around them. The blast to her back she’d expected hadn’t come, and a searing white light was now glowing behind her, its purity banishing the green that had filtered over the room. Catra looked back over her shoulder.

Adora had summoned her shield to deflect the lightning. _She-Ra’s_ shield.

Catra’s eyes widened as she realised what this meant, and when the shield disappeared again a hand fell down onto her shoulder. Catra turned her head back and her heart leapt to see Adora sitting up, her eyes open.

‘You love me…?’

Despite everything Catra couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

‘ _You’re such an idiot…_ ’ she chuckled through a smile wet with tears. She’d been so sure Adora had seen it in her eyes in the forest before she’d left the camp. The other woman had chosen the path that led here anyway, finally making the decision Catra had been waiting for her to make – she _didn’t_ want her after all, not in this scorching, all-consuming way in which nothing else could possibly matter more.

But then Catra saw the look on Adora’s face.

She was gazing up with more tenderness than the catgirl had ever seen before, more than she’d ever hoped to see. The poisonous green marks running over her cheeks were powerless to detract from how beautiful she looked, and the flickering lights of the chamber danced in Adora’s eyes, as if they were portals into her soul that were revealing a joyous explosion within.

‘I love you too.’

The impossible words made Catra forget everything else, everything that had brought them here or was going on outside of the chamber. Right now there was only her and Adora, finally together in all the ways she’d ever wanted. She felt her own eyes squint in bliss, returned her hand to Adora’s head, and kissed her.

It felt like there was a light of some kind spreading about the room, but Catra didn’t care. All she could recognise right now was the feeling of Adora in her arms.

* * *

Etheria was free. Horde Prime’s destruction had left all incarnations of the Horde helpless, and the surge of magic about the planet had given the people the power to fight off any leftover bots or opportunistic would-be warlords. The moments immediately after She-Ra’s final victory had been filled with ecstasy, relief, reunions, introductions, apologies, and affirmations. Everyone had taken their own moment to stare in wonder at the new world around them, the hidden, mystical parts of the planet now bursting out in every plant, animal and patch of sky. By the time evening came, the Princesses had all seen the need to go back and guide the peoples of their kingdoms through this strange transition, but firm promises were made to reunite for a celebration soon. After an affectionate farewell, Bow had gone to see his Dads while Adora and Catra accompanied Glimmer back to Bright Moon, newly liberated. The Queen was soon deep in conversation with her father, and Adora had tactfully bid them goodnight before taking Catra by the hand and leading her to her old room.

The pair stayed up late into the night talking, and fell asleep in each other’s arms.

* * *

The next day Catra woke first, and after an hour or so stroking Adora’s hair as she slept, she finally felt the need to get up and loosen the knots in her muscles. The fight with the beast defending the Heart of Etheria had given her a few more bruises than she was used to, although she would have been a lot worse off if-

Shadow Weaver. Catra felt the tension she’d been stretching out return, and a conflicting ache swirl in her stomach. She and Adora had talked about their manipulative parental figure a lot the previous night, and although they had both shed tears for her, Catra still had a cluster of unresolved issues where the Sorceress was concerned. _One more thing to work on,_ she thought to herself.

She heard the rustling of bedsheets followed by bare feet padding across the floor to where she was stood by the tall window. Hands came around her waist and Catra felt a kiss on the back of her neck.

‘It’s beautiful, isn’t it?’

Catra nodded in agreement. The view from the castle, whatever it had been before, now beheld a shimmering kaleidoscope of colours. Rainbows reflected in the air above vibrant forests and rivers, while new species of flying creatures explored the sky.

‘We’ll have so much to discover,’ Adora said. ‘Although, if we’re gonna be busy for a while... maybe we should lie in this morning.’

Catra felt her heart begin to pound as Adora’s hands slid lower. She remembered what it had been like sleeping across from her in the cave where they’d made their camp, eyeing the shape of the other woman’s form as she slept. She’d made a promise to herself then, and despite the dizzying high of their confessions of love for one another, she knew she had to keep that promise. So as Adora began to run her fingers over Catra’s shorts onto her thighs, the catgirl smartly smacked them away.

‘Um, _hands_ ,’ she scolded.

Adora pulled her hands back for a second, then returned them to Catra’s waist. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘I can _try_ starting gently.’

She began to plant kisses over Catra’s neck, but the catgirl determinedly pushed the oncoming rush of excitement aside and shrugged the other woman off.

‘Adora, I don’t know WHAT you think you’re doing,’ she tutted, turning to frown exaggeratedly at the confused-looking blonde woman.

‘Catra, what’s going on?’ Adora asked, the eagerness in her eyes fighting to escape but with apparently nowhere to go.

‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ Catra said with a smile, giving her eyes a flutter. ‘Is this _difficult_ for you? Is having to wait making you feel a little bit _incredibly_ _frustrated_?’

Adora gave a guilty laugh. ‘Okay, you got me. I’m sorry for making you wait so long.’ She stepped forward again and put her hands on Catra’s hips. ‘But now we’re together, and we’ve got a lot of time to make up for...’

The sight of the beautiful face leaning closer and closer made Catra’s heart race again, but she forced herself to pluck the other woman’s hands off her.

‘I don’t know Adora,’ she said with a performative sigh. ‘I’m a good guy now. I think our love should be an example to this new world, _chaste_ and _honorable_.’ Catra eyed Adora’s horrified expression, scarcely believing how well this was working. ‘I guess we should take some time to think about whether we still want our relationship to be so… physical.’

Adora seemed to twig at the game being played, and the hint of a scowl started to play over her eyes. ‘Okay,’ she said, impatiently. ‘And just how much time are you talking about?’

‘Oh Adora,’ Catra grinned. ‘Half the fun for _me_ was not knowing how long I’d have to wait.’ Catra leaned her face as close as possible to Adora’s without their lips actually touching, and held it there until she could hear a shake in the other woman’s breath. Then she gave the human’s lips the lightest of pecks and walked past her, making sure to let her tail sweep up and brush Adora’s face as she went.

* * *

Catra managed to keep it up for another week. After their days exploring the new sights of the world around them, visiting the other kingdoms and clearing out the last remaining dregs of Horde technology, they would relax together in the castle and Catra would drape herself over Adora’s lap, allowing the human to stroke her short brown hair or play with her fingers. When they returned to Adora’s bed Catra would lightly trace her fingers over the other woman’s curves, but the second Adora started to reciprocate, or if their kisses started getting too deep, Catra would let out a yawn and curl herself up in the cushions definitively. Sometimes it was _very_ difficult to pull herself away, but she was kept going by the reward of seeing the rising hope in Adora’s eyes yanked away. Adora would get visibly more and more frustrated each time, and Catra had even overheard her taking a little longer than usual in the bathroom on one occasion, but the human never tried to press the point and sullenly allowed Catra her revenge.

Their plans to return to space were becoming more and more solid. Entrapta and Hordak had gone on ahead, the renewed, uniquely independent clone seeming the best fit to take charge of dismantling Prime’s empire. Catra had agreed that getting him off Etheria was probably the best move; no matter what transformation he’d undergone, he still represented the Horde to many. Entrapta had promised to keep an eye out for any resurfacing megalomaniacal tendencies, but it was generally agreed that they would both need regular checking up on. It was only a couple of days before their scheduled launch that Adora finally confronted Catra in the castle hallway.

‘We are going to be on a ship soon,’ she said through gritted teeth, ‘with a lot of other people, and some very thin walls. This is becoming _urgent_ , Catra.’

The desperation in Adora’s voice was music to the catgirl’s long furry ears, and she lifted a hand to brush her fingertips over the other woman’s cheek.

‘You’re really on the edge _,_ aren’t you?’ she purred.

Adora glowered and lowered her eyes, but nodded. Catra brought a claw forward to lift Adora’s chin, and then kissed her, finally allowing herself to open her lips wide and let her tongue snake forward to wrap around its mate. After a few seconds of their mouths hungrily embracing, Catra pulled away.

‘ _Is this what you want?’_ she whispered.

‘Yes…’ Adora replied in a tense breath. Catra let the moment linger before speaking again.

‘Okay.’ But she raised a finger as the other woman leant her head forward again. ‘Tonight, after dinner. We’ve got to keep a good impression after all.’

The mix of frustration and anticipation in Adora’s face reached a peak that made Catra’s heart sing, and she allowed herself one more deep kiss into the human’s mouth. Then just as Adora began to push forward too Catra turned and walked away, letting her hips swing just a tad more than usual.

Dinner in the Bright Moon castle dining room was a chatty affair. Mermista and Seahawk had come with mountains of luggage to bring with them on Mara’s ship, and more than one person pointed out the danger of having Seahawk on a vessel where jumping overboard wasn’t much of an escape. Scorpia and Perfuma had come to join them for dinner even though they wouldn’t be accompanying them on their trip, and Catra smiled to see the slender floral Princess running an affectionate hand over Scorpia’s claw. She glanced from the happy couple over to Adora sat opposite her, and reached her foot under the table to stroke at her leg invitingly. Adora had been half listening to the various conversations all evening while giving Catra furtive glances, and now snapped her head around at the touch. She hesitated, apparently unsure whether this would end the same way each other flirtation in the past week had, so Catra leaned across the table with as amorous a look as she could. Adora stared back doubtfully for a couple more seconds, then when Catra didn’t break eye contact she started to run her own foot around the catgirl’s ankle. Catra gave a crooked smile, baring one of her fangs, and practically saw Adora’s heart leap in her chest. The blonde woman’s foot started to eagerly climb up Catra’s leg, but soon as it did Catra pulled the leg back and turned fully to cheerily ask Scorpia what else she’d learned to do with the Black Garnet.

* * *

After the meal was over and they’d finished the board game that Catra had suggested as an after-dinner activity (taking great pleasure in Adora almost exploding as everyone else enthusiastically agreed), the pair finally made their way back to their bedroom.

‘Now,’ Catra said firmly as she closed the door behind them. ‘Before anything else, I’ve got a couple of rules to lay down.’

‘ _Really_ , Catra?’ Adora huffed, her breaths already quickening.

‘I could still change my mind,’ Catra smiled, fluttering her eyes again, and Adora appeared to force herself to drop her resistant tone.

‘Okay, what rules?’

‘You do _exactly_ as I say,’ she purred. ‘And if you’re a good girl tonight, then this will all be over. But if you don’t do exactly as I say then we stop straight away, and we’ll have to try again another night.’

Adora looked fit to burst. Catra waited patiently for any objections, and smiled warmly when the other woman eventually nodded.

‘Good,’ she began. ‘Now when _I_ was waiting for _you_ , I had a lot of time to think about all the parts of you I missed, and what I wanted to do to them when I had them again. So I want you to take off your clothes, and then not move. Can you do that?’

‘Yes,’ Adora said, swallowing. ‘I-I can stay still.’

Catra bared her fangs as she smiled. She stepped back and leant against the door with her arms folded, taking in the sight of Adora stripping off her clothes. The other woman blushed under Catra’s dominantly hungry gaze, but she was still removing each garment with eager speed, her hands shaking with anticipation. Once she was fully nude, Catra stepped forward, her own breaths now shaking at the sight of the woman she loved, the beauty of her naked body overwhelming. Adora was almost panting, and after hovering their faces close one last time, Catra kissed her. This time she allowed Adora to meet her tongue with her own, and it ravenously re-acquainted itself with Catra’s mouth. Catra lifted her hand to Adora’s head to pivot it just right, and felt a hand reach up to her own.

‘Don’t move, remember?’ she reminded Adora between kisses, and felt the hand quickly drop down again. Smiling at the obedience, Catra moved her lips across the other woman’s mouth and onto her neck, savouring the taste she’d been denying herself. Adora’s chest was rising and falling fast, but otherwise she was complying with the instruction not to move. Catra lifted a hand to cup the other woman’s breast, and after squeezing it delicately in her fingers, she ran a fingertip over the nipple and heard a vocal sigh escape Adora’s lips. She moved her mouth down and kissed the breast, resting her face upon its smooth skin. Catra let the tip of her tongue play over the nipple until it was firm and erect, and planted small kisses directly onto it. Adora’s hand instinctively came up to stroke Catra’s hair, and the catgirl reached up to smack it away.

‘That’s strike two,’ she warned, looking up at the eyes that held a desperate struggle behind them. Catra stood and rested her fingers on the other woman’s shoulders, running them down over her chest to her stomach, around her waist and down onto her hips. She grasped the curves that she’d watched from afar for weeks, moving her hands onto Adora’s rear and squeezing it greedily. Impressively Adora was managing to resist any further movement, although her every breath shuddered. Catra traced a finger across the pale chest before her as she paced around behind her subject. She nestled her body against Adora’s back and began to grind her own hips against the human’s rear, the fabric of her leggings rubbing against Adora’s bare skin.

After a moment of this Adora spun round, apparently unable to take it any longer, and grabbed Catra’s face to pull her into a passionate kiss. But Catra put her hands on Adora’s shoulders and firmly pushed her back.

‘I’m sorry Adora,’ she sighed. ‘I warned you.’

‘No, Catra please!’ Adora begged as the catgirl started walking towards the door. ‘I couldn’t help it, I… tie my hands!’

Catra’s ear twitched at the suggestion, and she stopped, turning her head.

‘Are you sure?’ she asked, a delighted look in her eye.

Adora nodded eagerly. ‘I want to be good. Please, help me.’

Catra made sure her smile took its time spreading itself over her mouth, and then glanced around the room. She strode over to the curtains which were were connected by a length of material looped between them. She unfastened the band and pulled it between her hands, testing its strength, and then walked back. She twirled a finger in the air and Adora compliantly turned around, crossing her wrists behind her back. Catra looped the length of material in her hands around the human’s wrists and tied a firm knot over them.

‘How’s that? Is that too tight?’ she whispered, briefly dropping the domineering tone from her voice.

‘No, it’s okay,’ Adora replied.

‘ _Good_ ,’ Catra smiled, adopting her previous sultriness again. She paced around Adora, taking in the gratifying sight of the nude, bound woman. ‘Now, if you actually want me to stop, you can say… how about _Couple’s Bloom_?’

A smile of recognition came over Adora’s face at the mention of the flower that had brought them together sexually for the first time.

‘Yeah, okay,’ she said.

The agreement in place, Catra stepped close to Adora and kissed her again. Knowing that the other woman was unable to reach out gave Catra a feeling of dominance that she’d never had before, even when effectively leading the Horde herself. After all the years of trying, she’d finally conquered Adora. She lowered her mouth onto those pale, smooth breasts again, and as she kissed them she felt the other woman tremble with a tension that had no way of being let out. She sucked at the skin around each of Adora’s nipples, pulling her mouth away with a smack of her lips each time. She looked up at Adora as she continued and maintained eye contact, giving her long, slow blinks.

‘Catra…’

A little fear came into Adora’s eyes; she was apparently uncertain whether she’d violated a rule by speaking without being spoken to. But Catra tilted her head receptively.

‘Yes?’ she asked.

‘I w-wanna taste you…’ Adora breathed.

Catra smiled another slow smile. ‘Alright,’ she said, and stood up straight. She turned her back and started to remove her own clothes, taking off the garments that covered her torso first. She glanced back over her bare shoulder and smiled at Adora’s hungry expression before peeling her leggings down and stepping out of them. She turned around, cocking a hip to accentuate her own curves, and was immensely gratified to see Adora overcome with unconcealed lust. The human’s eyes ran over Catra’s naked body, and she allowed her captive a full examination. Then Catra sauntered over to an armchair and seated herself on it, spreading her legs open. She beckoned with a clawed finger, and felt another surge of joy at seeing the woman who’d saved Etheria and defeated a galactic dictator scurry forward toward her desperately, hands still tied back.

Adora knelt down before the chair, and Catra’s heart swelled again as the blonde woman looked up, asking permission with her eyes. Catra let her tongue poke out ever so slightly between her lips, and pointed a finger at it meaningfully. Adora’s face fell at the sight of the short sliver of tongue being given as an exemplar, but she inhaled, compliantly stuck her tongue out to the same length, and lowered her head between Catra’s thighs.

Catra felt Adora lick the tip of her tongue up along the ridges of her most intimate set of lips, pushing between them as much as she could without letting any more of her tongue out of her mouth. The tip would nestle into each tiny pool of seeping juices that it found, taking in as much of the taste as it could and only pulling back for Adora to swallow the drool that was accumulating in her mouth.

For Catra, the effect was incredible. This teasing that she’d orchestrated for herself was bringing her to levels of excitement she’d never felt before. Each of their previous lovemaking sessions had been frantic, furious affairs without any time given to relish the buildup, and now Catra was determined to make this last as long as she could. She kneaded her claws into the fabric of the armchair as the tip of Adora’s tongue continued to flitter, feeling an inner pressure continue to mount.

Adora pulled her head back, keeping her eyes on the ground.

‘Catra… _please…_ ’ she whimpered. 

‘Just a few more seconds,’ Catra promised, as much to herself as to Adora. ‘You’re doing so well,’ she added, reaching down to stroke her hand against Adora’s head.

The praise spurred Adora on and she returned to Catra’s loins with renewed vigour, the point of her tongue digging itself into the folds of flesh. The catgirl felt moans rise in her throat as the tension became unbearable, and she desperately clutched at her rapidly escaping control.

‘Okay,’ she finally breathed. ‘H-Have at it.’

The second the words were out of her mouth, Adora’s mouth gasped open wide and the full length of her tongue surged forward. Catra’s hips were forced back slightly in the chair, and Adora’s hands tore out of their bonds with a loud rip to grab at the seated woman’s thighs. Catra’s eyes clenched shut and her mouth opened in a silent scream, fangs gnawing at the air, and she slammed her hand down on the arm of the chair. Adora’s tongue was reaching further inside her than she’d even thought possible, gluttonously coating itself with Catra’s secretions. But the pressure of Adora’s sucking motions was what was making fireworks explode inside the catgirl. She felt her whole abdomen being pulled forward by the other woman’s mouth as she suckled, and an occasional pulse rocked back against her as Adora gulped down each mouthful she’d claimed for herself. The voracious, wriggling movements inside her began to send waves of ecstasy pumping through Catra’s body. She felt an urgent need in her breast and reached up a hand to grab at it, bringing the other to Adora’s head to keep it firmly in place. As she squeezed at the skin in one hand and the hair in the other, she felt vocal cries burst out of her mouth. Blood charged into her head, and she saw white. For a few seconds all of her external senses were shut off – she had no sight, no hearing, even the armchair’s fabric against her skin and the mouth working between her legs seemed to disappear. All she knew was the intensity of the rush flooding through her. Then after a the utter elation of the rush’s peak, she felt herself sink back into her body, limply sliding down to rest her shoulders against the base of the chair’s back. Opening her eyes, she groggily registered Adora’s head lifting up from between her thighs, wiping away a faceful of discharge that had gushed over her.

‘Did I do well?’ she asked.

‘ _H-Hu… I wa- c-ca…_ ’ Catra replied.

Adora smiled stickily. ‘Good. Now, _you_ have a promise to keep.’

‘Okay…’ Catra nodded faintly, managing to lift herself up to sit in the chair again. ‘Just give me a s-second…’

She felt like some internal frame that had been holding her body up had been extracted from her. The sense of power she’d been enjoying just minutes ago was gone, leaving a physical vacuum behind inside her. Although all she’d been doing was sitting in the chair, the intensity of the blood pumping around her body followed by its sudden banishment had left her limbs weak and feeble. She pushed her hands against the chair’s arms and stood, taking a stumbling step forward past Adora, but her legs gave way and she fell to the floor. Catra started laughing weakly from her position lying face-down on the bedroom carpet.

‘I c-can’t get up…’ she snickered. ‘I th-think you sucked my s-soul out…’

She heard Adora join in with her laughter, and the other woman lifted up Catra’s wrist. But when she let go the arm dropped limply to the floor, which just made Catra cackle more.

‘ _I’m sorry Adora_ …’ she giggled. ‘ _I flew too close to the sun_ …’

‘ _Catra!’_ Adora scolded through her laughter. ‘What am I supposed to do now?!’

‘Alright, alright.’ Catra forced herself to push against the floor and rolled over onto her back. She beckoned vaguely to the other woman with her hands. ‘Let’s get you sorted.’

Adora shook her head in disbelief as she hobbled over on her knees, lifting one over Catra’s head to rest her crotch over the catgirl’s face.

‘We are SO even,’ the human grinned down at her.

As Catra lapped at the dripping gully below Adora’s stomach, she realised this was the first time she had done this to the other woman (outside of her fantasies, anyway). The taste was already familiar from when it had stuck in the air during the other times they’d been hot and damp around each other, and now it made her love for Adora throb in her chest. Glancing up, she saw the head far above hers leant back, sighing deeply. Catra felt a guilty pang for not being able to reach up and caress or kiss the exposed throat, and lifted her hands onto Adora’s thighs, groping at the soft flesh with some returned strength. She began to play her tongue over Adora’s ridges, and felt a shiver run through the body she was being enveloped by. She used Adora’s breaths as her guide, going to whichever spot made them quicken and tighten. The other woman’s voice began to emerge in her sighs and Catra moved her hands round to the base of Adora’s back, pulling her closer against her mouth. She felt a surge of joy as the muscles rolling against her face started to spasm, and kept up the rhythm of her licks until Adora was brought to a pelting, trembling finish. Catra quickly caught her breath just before a jet of liquid squirted over her face, each spurt a release of the tension she’d built inside Adora over the past week. When the torrent was over, she wiped the wet layer off her face and gulped for air.

Adora was still letting out high, deep sighs and leant back until she was lying down, her head resting between Catra’s feet. Both women lay there for a minute trying to catch their breath. Then Catra slid herself out from underneath the other body and crawled around to nestle her head against Adora’s neck, holding her close.

* * *

They were now in the bed with the covers pulled up over their heads, the still-bright lights of the room shining through the material. Catra had been gazing into those gorgeous blue eyes for what felt like hours, neither of them speaking. Where once she would have felt uncomfortable with such prolonged intimacy, she now felt a soft safeness in being so exposed with Adora. The other woman’s face had that same tenderness from when they’d confessed to each other under the Heart of Etheria. Adora’s eyelids started to droop closed, and Catra wondered if sleep was overcoming her.

But then the human slowly opened her eyes again before closing them once more just as slowly. As she continued her slow blinking, the catgirl’s heart overflowed as she realised what Adora was doing – she was mimicking Catra’s own instinctive, feline expression of affection. Something deep and primal within her echoed back, and she felt a gentle flood of warmth consume her.

‘I love you, Adora,’ Catra breathed.

The words triggered Adora’s face to break out into a smile of joy.

‘I love you too, Catra,’ she said.

Hearing the words from the other woman attached to her own name sustained the bliss that was running through Catra like oxygen, and they started kissing softly, delicately. As she had lost herself before to pain, to madness, to obsession, Catra now lost herself in Adora.


End file.
